Coaching Assessments Tools: Compared and Contrasted

COACHING ASSESSMENTS TOOLS1
Coaching Assessments Tools: Compared & Contrasted
COACHING ASSESSMENTS TOOLS

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Coaching Assessments Tools: Compared & Contrasted


I. Main Research Themes


Testing is indispensable in coaching. The reliability of assessments methods is,


however, an evolving challenge. For decades, assessments methods, particularly in clinical contexts, have been assessor-oriented, strict in form and content and, not least, largely of unobjectionable outcomes. The growing of, if not explosion in, coaching practices in recent years, has, however, put established assessment methods under increasing scrutiny about validity, consequences and paternalism. The accelerating pace in business, social and personal spheres has, moreover, made sole reliance on assessor’s evaluation increasingly unfeasible, if not impossible. Instead, a number of approaches has emerged to help close gaps in existing coaching assessment methods.
The pluralistic approach is one increasingly adopted and document coaching assessment approach. In contrast to conventional assessor-administered approaches, a pluralistic assessment is “a commitment in practice to deeply value the coachee’s needs, which can be achieved by encouraging him or her to actively participate in the management of the coaching process” (Utry et al. 2015, p. 47). In so doing, a pluralistic assessment offers coachees agency and autonomy and, as such, establishes for a more engaging and effective coach-coachee relationship.
The collaborative assessment, an early harbinger of pluralistic approach, is a second method whereby results of a given assessment are not longer exclusively interpreted by assessors or coaches. Instead, a “collaborative assessment, in contrast to more traditional assessment, recognizes that the professional’s interpretations are no more real, valid, or influential within the
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client’s life than are the client’s” (Bersoff, DeMatteo and Foster, 2012, p. 61). This dismisses paternalism, or unjustified authority, as an exclusivity coaches have always exercised at little or no cost or accountability.
The ENABLE approach, a solution-focused coaching model for individual and team learning, offers yet an additional and innovative assessment method. ENABLE is an acronym made up of: “Elicit preferred future; Notice expectations; Activate strengths and resources; Build on what’s working; Look for opportunities; and Efficacy-support feedback” (Adams, 2016, p. 18). In lieu of conventional, problem-focused assessment methods, ENABLE “places primary emphasis on assisting the client to define a desired future state and to construct a pathway in both thinking and action that assists the client in achieving that state [emphasis added” (Adams, p. 17). Thus, a future, not a current, state assumes primacy in ENABLE approach to help a coachee move forward beyond a problem-focused approach. II. Research Findings & Implication for Coaching
The above mentioned research involves findings and implications of far-reaching outcomes and consequences for coaching. For one, shifting focus from c...